


Excuse Me Forgetting

by Parker_Haven_Wuornos



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: A very necessary scene, F/M, Recovering Memories, fixit fic, unedited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 21:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21277931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parker_Haven_Wuornos/pseuds/Parker_Haven_Wuornos
Summary: Paige has been in Haven for days and Nathan has no idea how to deal with everything, so as is the Wuornos way, he avoids it. Sick of waiting for him to call, Paige goes to his office and sees a strange picture on his desk.





	Excuse Me Forgetting

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is just one of those things I had to get out. I wrote it in half an hour and didn't edit it. Many thanks to Cookiedoughme for the inspiration!

He wasn’t expecting her to visit him. Why should he? She wasn’t Audrey. Technically. Sort of.

And that, in itself, was why he should really just avoid her. Paige wasn’t Audrey enough, and that wasn’t fair to her. So, he hadn’t tried to see her again after they’d gotten a very unusually timed breakfast after he’d rescued her from a broken-down car.

He’d told Dwight, because of course he had, and he had spread the word to people who would spot Paige and assume she was Audrey, so that, at least, could be avoided for a little longer. Truthfully, most people in Haven were already starting to forget. It was the Haven way, and he should make peace with it, but it still drove him crazy when people mentioned the “freak hurricane” or whatever natural explanation their fragile minds had put in place of the troubles.

_She saved you,_ He wanted to scream. _She left so you could be normal. _

And now she was back.

Sort of.

Nathan dropped his head against his desk, finding some small satisfaction in the fact that it kind of hurt. More for that than the frustration he did it again. In small doses, pain could clear the head. Maybe that was why he’d been such a mess for so long.

“Wow, rough day at the office?”

Her voice. God… looking at her, he could almost begin to think of her as Not Audrey, but hearing her with his eyes closed, it was impossible. His mind still expected blond hair and worried eyes, and there was a stab of grief when he saw dark curls and vague distance, lack of recognition.

“Paige! Shit, hi! I mean, how are you?”

_Smooth, Nathan, _Duke’s voice whispered at the back of his mind, bringing with it another stab of grief.

She smiled, surprised and amused. “I’m good. How are you?”

“I’m… good.”

What he was, was a complicated mix of feelings he didn’t have the vocabulary to explain, even if he’d had the inclination. Feelings, both literal and metaphorical, had never been his strong suit.

She smiled. “Well… good. You know, I kinda thought you’d call.”

“What?” Given nothing but a script of this conversation, he would assume that he didn’t want her to like him at all. “Call?”

“Yeah, like with a phone? You have those here, right?”

“Yes, I have a phone.” He pointed stupidly at the one on his desk.

She smiled. Audrey’s smile. “Well, can I have the number? Nine one one kept giving me the run around.”

“Uhh—”

Ignoring him, she stepped forward, reaching for the phone. In the process, she knocked over the photo on his desk.

A photo of him with his arms around Audrey.

Time slowed as he watched her glance at it, then pause to look closer until she finally picked it up to openly stare at it.

“Holy shit,” She muttered. “She could be my twin. Fuck… she could be _me_.” Her widened in panic and then narrowed in suspicion as she stepped away from him. “Who is this? Who are you?”

“She’s… Her name was Audrey.”

“Was?”

_Yeah, now it’s Paige. Before that it was Lucy and Sarah, someone named Veronica was there at some point, and at the very beginning, Mara. _

_“_She died. Recently.”

“How?”

“Protecting a lot of people. It’s… it’s a very long story.”

“Well then start talking, because I’m about to call the cops.”

Nathan raised his eyebrows and glanced around him, waiting for her to take note of the fact that she was in the office of the chief of police.

“Okay, not that, I’ll… I don’t know what I’ll do but start talking anyway!”

He smiled in spite of himself. He couldn’t help it. He could see in her the same things that he saw in Audrey, and in Lucy and Sarah. Whatever it was that always carried over, underneath the memories that the barn gave her, Paige had it too. “She was my partner,” He began, but realized immediately that he had to go back further.

“See, Haven isn’t like other towns. It’s… well it used to be a very strange place.”

“I’m listening,” She said, though her face was painted with skepticism.

“People here could… do strange things. Some of them were dangerous. Audrey helped those people. We called them the troubled.”

“You know that sounds like a lot of bullshit, right?”

“I know.”

“Why do I believe you?” She asked, and something pulled at his heart.

“Because…” Logically, he knew he could tell her that it was because she was looking at a picture of someone who could be her twin. He also knew that he could tell her the truth. “Parker was—”

He stopped suddenly, staring at her. Her eyebrows had folded together like she was trying to… like she was trying to remember something.

It passed after a moment, though her deeply etched frown remained. “Sorry, I just got the most intense feeling of Deja vu. Um, keep going. What about the troubles?”

“They… were tearing the town apart. Things got really bad, and in the end, she had to sacrifice herself to save us all.”

“So… why does she look like me?”

“Because… well… I think because she _is_ you. Or you were her.”

She took another step back, watching him with scared eyes that told him he’d pushed too far too soon. “What?”

“She… this has happened before, to her. She would disappear for twenty-seven years and then come back as someone else, but she looked the same. She acted the same. She helped the troubles.”

“So, you think I’m your dead girlfriend reincarnated?”

“That’s…” It’s not how he would have put it, but it wasn’t entirely incorrect, either.

“Is this why you were avoiding me? Jesus, why do I always go for the crazy ones?”

That gave him an idea. The barn couldn’t rewrite everything. There were some things that didn’t go away. Nathan suspected that he himself was one of these things. He had connected with Sarah, with Lucy, and finally, first, with Audrey. She hadn’t remembered him, but she had trusted him right off the bat. Maybe, that was still there, written underneath whoever’s memories she’d gotten.

“What crazy guys have you gone for?” He asked. “Was James’ father one of them?”

“Excuse me?”

“James, your son, who’s his father?”

She took a step back. “That’s… that’s a very personal question.”

“I know. But do you know the answer?”

“Yes! I—” She stopped, the same look of lost, helpless confusion on her face. “I’m sure… He’s... What’s wrong with me?”

“Do you remember being pregnant with him? Giving birth?”

“Y—I-I’m sure—" Her breath was coming in fast, terrified pants now. “I know that I—”

“Paige,” He said slowly, “Breathe. Just… close your eyes and take a breath. It’s okay.”

“No,” She whispered. “It’s not. Something is wrong.”

“Parker—" He caught himself, but the name was already out there, standing between them like a living being that could watch this horrible thing unfold. She looked like she was going to pass out, like she wanted to run.

Her breath caught, but she looked up. Looked at him.

_Really _looked at him. “Nathan?”

He thought he might pass out. After everything he’d been through, he really thought he might just faint like a Victorian housewife because of the way she’d just said his name.

Because she’d said it like she knew him.

He nodded, barely daring to breathe and not allowing himself to hope yet. “Parker?”

It was her turn to nod. “I think so. I mean, I remember being her the most, but Paige’s memories are here too, and some of Lucy’s and Sarah’s… it’s like… God it’s so crowded in here.”

That was all he needed. A second later, she was in his arms, his lips pressed against her hair, which was dark now but that didn’t matter because it was _her. _“I missed you.”

Audrey shook her head. “I told you not to.”

“I’m no good at following orders.”

She laughed, and it sounded a little like a sob. “Nathan.” She seemed to forget whatever she was going to say, and instead reached up to grab his collar so she could pull him into a kiss.

When he finally managed to let her go, she sank into the chair opposite his desk. “Holy shit.”

“Parker… is it still okay if I call you that?”

“Yeah.” She dragged her fingers through her hair. “I remember being her most. It feels more real than my Paige memories.”

“I’m sorry,” He said, for lack of anything better to say. “I didn’t mean to—”

“No. I’m glad. I wanted to go out with you and that would have gotten weird fast, what with you knowing who I am and being my son’s father and all.” She smiled warmly. “Even as someone else, I wanted you.”

“I wanted you too,” He admitted. “But I missed, well, you, and—”

“I have a headache,” She laughed. “Please, let’s sort through it all later. Right now, I want pancakes. And lots of alcohol.”

He snorted out a laugh. “Me too.”

“Laverne and Stan have Jamie; do you think they’d mind looking after him for a bit?”

Nathan smiled, reaching for her hand and feeling like he’d finally come home. “I’m sure they wouldn’t.”

“Good.” Her smile was backlit with a hint of mischief. “And we should tell them the good news.”

“That you’re back?”

“That we’re getting married. Possibly next week because I think we’ve waited long enough.”

He kissed her again, smiling too much to say the yes that his brain was screaming. So, he nodded wordlessly and knew she understood.


End file.
